An ICHF team, led by Dr. William Novick, returned from Bogota on July 17. The ICHF team, along with the local Colombian team, operated on 38 children. The trip was sponsored by Fundacion Abood Shaio and FedEx. We plan to visit Bogota again in October.

An 18-member team, led by Dr. Tom Karl of San Francisco, returned from Managua on Saturday, June 26 after successfully performing operations on 21 children. The trip was sponsored by Dr. Karl, Rotary District 7470 Gift of Life Program, Rotary District 7500 Gift of Life Program and FedEx.

The ICHF team returned on Saturday June 5th, completing a successful trip to Beijing Children's Hospital. A total of 15 children received surgery on this trip. Plans were made for the ICHF to visit Beijing Children's Hospital twice next year, with the first trip in April and second in October.

Our 13-member team arrived in Beijing, China on May 25. They are operating at the Beijing Children's Hospital. Two children have received surgeries so far and are doing good. This is the first time that an ICHF sponsored team has been to Beijing. The mission is sponsored by Rotary District 7470 Gift of Life Program.

Our team has returned from a successful mission to Minsk, Belarus. Twenty-one children were operated on and are all doing fine. Our team will be returning to Belarus in September.

At the end of mission day #8, we have operated on 14 children and all are doing well. The top left photograph shows the hands of several children before surgery which are blue and exhibit "clubbing". The young boy in the bottom left exhibits cyanosis in his lips. These are signs of hypoxia and inadaquate oxygen delivery to the body caused by heart defects which shunt blood away from the lungs. Without surgery, these children experience progressive fatigue, poor growth, and eventually die. With the surgery that we are providing, their bodies receive the necessary oxygen which allow the children to live normal lives. Outwardly, their hands and lips become pink and they have renewed energy of normal children.

The bottom right photograph shows several team members on this mission; from left to right, Dr. Valerie Schroeder, Summer Sullivan, Dr. Visnja Ivancan, Martina Pavanic, and Vickie Ellis. The top center photograph shows Suzanne Gingras, a local Belarusian nurse, and Vickie Ellis. Lastly, the top right photograph shows Suzanne Gingras with several of our children before and after surgery.

This mission continues to be highly successful. We have operated on 10 children so far. From top left to bottom right, 6-year old Elena underwent aortic valve repair; 10-year old Katherine had her mitral valve repaired; 16-year old Oleg underwent double-flap valve closure of a ventricular septal defect (VSD); 11-year old Illiya had a bidirectional Glenn procedure for Epstein Anomaly; 14-year old Luda, 6-year old Tanya, and 13-year old Artiom all underwent Tetralogy of Fallot repair; and 14-year old Urie had his aortic valve replaced with a mechanical valve. During the second week, we anticipate operating on at least 12 more children. These children are from the area of Belarus which remains seriously affected by residual radiation from the Chernobyl accident.

Our first two children on this mission are doing wonderful following heart surgery.  Four year-old Maria (left) underwent repair of Tetralogy of Fallot and 6 year-old Constatin (right) underwent closure of a ventricular septal defect (VSD).

Our 12-member ICHF team has arrived in Minsk, Belarus to begin a two-week mission at Hospital Number 4. This is our fourth mission to Belarus. We have operated on 93 Belarussian children and expect to operate on twenty more during this mission. Sponsors for this mission include Chernobyl Children's Project International, Gift of Life Rotory District #7980 of Hamden, Connecticut, Belarussian Children's Foundation, and Federal Express. Team members include:

Bill Novick, MD, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Memphis
Martina Pavanic, RN, Surgical Nurse, Memphis
Rob Reid, MD, Pediatric Intensivist, Kansas City
Joanne Price, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Seattle
Oliver Ross, MD, Pediatric Intensivist, London
Visnja Ivancan, MD, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist, Zagreb
Valerie Schroeder, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist, Lexington
Vickie Ellis, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Memphis
Summer Sullivan, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Memphis
Suzanne Gingras, RN, Pediatric Critical Care Nurse, Stanford
Eillen Crimmins, RN, Surgical Nurse, New York City
Lynda Hammond, Rotory District #7980, Hamden, Connecticut